Chapter 7 - The Traitor in the East Wing
"Luca, wait."
Daniel stepped in front of the door, blocking his boss’s path.
"If you go in there now, Salvatore will know we have the tape. He travels with his own security detail. There are four armed men sleeping in the room next to his."
Luca’s chest heaved.
"I do not care. He murdered my brother."
"And if a firefight breaks out in the hallways, what happens to the boy?" Daniel pointed toward the bed where Leo was sleeping. "What happens to Rachel? What happens to Maria?"
The mention of Leo made Luca freeze.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath.
When he opened them, the blinding rage had been replaced by a terrifying, absolute calm.
"Lock down the estate," Luca commanded.
"Already done," Daniel replied.
"Disable the gate codes. Cut the landlines. Jam the cell signals. Nobody makes a call out of this house."
"Understood."
"And Daniel?"
"Yes, Boss?"
"Bring Salvatore to the study. Tell him we have a security breach regarding Vanessa. He’ll come quietly if he thinks she’s the one in trouble."
Daniel nodded and slipped out the door.
Luca turned to me.
"Rachel, you need to stay in this room. Lock it again. If anyone tries to open it, you take Leo and you hide in the panic room behind the closet."
I nodded, my hands shaking.
"Mr. Moretti... what about Vanessa? She's in the guest house."
"Not for long," Luca said softly.
He checked the heavy automatic pistol holstered at his hip, then walked out, pulling the door shut behind him.
I threw the deadbolt.
I walked over to the bed and sat beside Leo. He stirred slightly, murmuring in his sleep, but didn't wake.
Downstairs, the house was eerily silent.
Too silent.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
Suddenly, my walkie-talkie—the one all the household staff carried—crackled to life.
It was Daniel’s voice, tight with panic.
"Boss, the guest house is empty."
My heart leaped into my throat.
I heard Luca’s voice reply over the radio.
"What do you mean, empty? You put a tracker on her car."
"The car is still here," Daniel said. "But her bags are gone. She must have realized the boy escaped. She fled on foot."
"Find her. She couldn't have gotten past the walls."
I stared at the heavy oak door of the bedroom.
If Vanessa was inside the grounds, she was desperate.
She knew she had lost her leverage. She knew her lies were unraveling.
And she knew exactly where the boy would have gone.
Click.
The sound was so soft I almost missed it.
It came from the adjoining bathroom.
The bathroom that connected Luca’s suite to the private balcony outside.
I slowly stood up.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
I had locked the main door. But I hadn't checked the balcony doors.
A shadow moved across the frosted glass of the bathroom door.
"Leo," I whispered, gently shaking the boy's shoulder. "Leo, wake up."
His green eyes fluttered open.
"Shh," I covered his mouth. "Don't make a sound. We're going to play hide and seek."
He nodded, his eyes wide with instant terror.
I scooped him up and carried him toward the massive walk-in closet.
Luca had mentioned a panic room.
I pushed past the rows of tailored suits and found a solid steel panel at the back. There was a keypad.
I didn't know the code.
Think, Rachel. Think.
What would Luca use?
His mother’s birthday? Antonio’s death date?
The doorknob to the bathroom slowly began to turn.
I panicked. I punched in Maria’s birth year—the woman who had raised him.
1942.
The keypad flashed red.
The bathroom door creaked open.
Heavy footsteps stepped onto the hardwood floor of the bedroom.
"Luca, darling?" Vanessa’s voice cooed into the darkness. "Are you awake?"
I held my breath, pulling Leo behind a rack of long winter coats.
She wasn't running away.
She had come to silence the boy before Luca could find him.
I saw her shadow stretch across the floor of the closet.
In her right hand, catching the dim moonlight, was a silver revolver.
"I know he's in here," Vanessa sang softly. "I saw the little rat's footprints on the patio."
She stepped into the closet.
She parted the coats.
May you like
And she looked right at me.
TITLE: The End of the Line
